The present invention relates generally to the shipment and storage of articles of equipment which, for purposes of defining and describing the present invention herein, is intended to encompass any relatively large, bulky article which needs or would benefit from protective packaging during shipment and storage, such as by way of example furniture, home appliances (refrigerators, washers, dryers, etc.), cabinetry, and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel protective bag adapted for packaging of such articles of equipment, especially furniture, during shipment and storage and a unique method of fabricating such bags. While the present invention is described herein in a presently contemplated embodiment suitable for furniture articles specifically, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to use with furniture and may find application for various other articles of equipment as above defined.
Furniture and like equipment manufacturers routinely package finished articles in protective cartons or other packaging to prevent damage during shipment and to protect the articles during storage prior to delivery to the end user. Historically, cardboard cartons had been widely used as a packaging medium for furniture and other such articles, often coupled with the use of plastic film and/or foam material wrapping the article within the carton. In recent years, specialized flexible plastic film bags have come into increasing use as an alternative form of protective packaging, particularly for upholstered furniture such as sofas. One of the benefits of such plastic bags is that transparent plastic film material can be utilized in the fabrication of such bags so that the article contained therein can be readily viewed, which is particularly helpful, for example, in locating individual furniture articles out of a large inventory in a warehouse wherein furniture may be stacked or otherwise stored to a relatively high elevation making it difficult or even impossible for workers to easily view the furniture from the warehouse floor.
However, plastic film alone, even if film of a relatively high thickness, provides little if any cushioning capability and otherwise provides only minimal protection to the furniture article contained therein. To address this problem, some plastic furniture bags are now being manufactured with a layer of compressible foam sheeting surface bonded to the inward side of the plastic film to provide an increased level of protection to the furniture article. Because such foam sheeting is opaque, the foam largely defeats the advantage of using transparent plastic film for ready viewing of the furniture contents of the bag. One version of such a protective furniture bag therefor omits the foam from an area of the bag extending along its entire length to provide a transparent window through which the furniture contents can be viewed, but depending upon where this xe2x80x9cwindowxe2x80x9d is situated relative to the furniture article when placed in the bag and depending further on where and how the furniture article is warehoused or otherwise stored, this lengthwise xe2x80x9cwindowxe2x80x9d may or may not permit viewing of the furniture contents. Furthermore, the surface bonding of the foam sheet to the transparent plastic film detracts from the use of a shrink wrapping technique to conform the bag to the shape and configuration of the furniture article. Because the foam sheeting does not shrink coextensively with the transparent plastic film, the foam tends to wrinkle dramatically upon shrinkage of the film, making the overall furniture package very unsightly. Additionally, because the foam is characteristically positioned inwardly to be in direct contact with the furniture article, friction between the foam and the furniture may prevent the film from shrinking uniformly.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved protective bag suitable for shipment and storage of furniture and other articles of equipment which alleviates the above-discussed disadvantages or problems of conventional bags. A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a protective equipment shipment and storage bag having a transparent window through which the article contained therein can be viewed essentially from any angle without regard to the location or disposition of storage. A further object is to provide such a protective bag with one or more protective foam elements which will not restrict shrinkage of transparent film utilized in the fabrication of the bag and will also resist wrinkling or distortion of the foam elements upon such shrinkage. A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel manufacturing methodology by which protective bags meeting these criteria can be efficiently manufactured on a production basis.
Briefly summarized, the protective equipment shipment and storage bag of the present invention basically comprises an envelope closed at one side and at opposite ends to define an interior article containment area and open at an opposite side to define an entrance into the interior containment area. The envelope comprises at least one layer of transparent film, with at least one foam element being attached to the at least one film layer at one end the envelope and terminating at a spacing from the opposite end of the envelope for defining a window area transversely across the envelope for viewing therethrough of an article within the interior containment area.
In a preferred embodiment of the protective bag, the envelope comprises essentially coextensive inner and outer transparent film layers with the foam element being sandwiched between the inner and outer layers. A pair of the foam elements are preferably sandwiched between the inner and outer file layers at the opposite ends of the envelope with a longitudinal spacing between the foam elements defining the window area intermediate the ends of the envelope. The foam elements are preferably of a sheet form and are attached to the film layers essentially only at a selected limited location, e.g. at selected points or along a selected attachment line, to allow a predetermined degree of independent movement of the foam elements and the film layers. Preferably, the foam sheet elements are attached to the film layers essentially only at the opposite ends of the envelope. The film layers may be shrinkable, with the limited attachment of the foam sheet elements thereto serving to resist deformation of the foam elements upon shrinkage of the film layers. The window area defined between the foam elements preferably extends substantially entirely from the one side of the envelope to the opposite side of the envelope, whereby the window will essentially encircle the entire equipment article. If and as necessary, an auxiliary foam element may also be sandwiched between the inner and outer film layers at a selected disposition longitudinally between the pair of foam sheet elements so as to provide additional localized protection to the equipment article, but without substantially restricting the viewing window area.
The methodology provided by the present invention for fabricating such a protective bag basically comprises initially forming a sandwich of two essentially co-extensive layers of transparent film and an element of foam disposed therebetween, and folding the sandwich along a longitudinal fold line. The folded film layers are then attached to each other at the foam element and at a location spaced longitudinally therefrom to form the above-described envelope closed at one longitudinal side and at opposite ends to define an interior containment area and open at an opposite longitudinal side to define an entrance into the interior containment area, with the spacing between the foam element and the spaced location forming a window area transversely across the envelope for viewing therethrough of an article within the containment area.
In a preferred embodiment of the fabrication methodology, a pair of foam elements are sandwiched between the inner and outer film layers and are attached to the folded films layers at spaced locations at the respective foam elements to define the viewing window area therebetween. The foam elements are preferably attached to the film layers essentially only at a selected limited location, e.g., along the opposite longitudinal ends of the envelope, to allow a predetermined movement of the foam elements and the film layers. The sandwich may be preferably formed by feeding two elongate traveling sheets of film in superposed parallel relation, while feeding an elongate traveling sheet of foam therebetween at a slower traveling speed and periodically severing the traveling sheet of foam to form the discrete spaced foam elements. The folded film layers and the spaced foam elements are then attached to one other by sealing the film layers to one another at spaced locations corresponding to the spacing of the foam elements. The traveling film sheets may then be separated at the sealing locations to produce a protective furniture bag between each successive pair of the sealing locations. An auxiliary foam element may be inserted between the inner and outer film layers at a selected disposition to extend longitudinally between the spaced pair of foam elements to selectively provide additional localized protection to a furniture article.
The auxiliary foam elements may be severed into discrete spaced foam elements in a manner similar to that described above for the other foam elements or, alternatively, may be defined as a continuous length of foam. In either case, the auxiliary foam element is sufficiently narrow so as not to significantly obstruct the window area. Also, it is to be noted that the steps of the described method need not be carried out in the order described. For example, the folded sandwich of film layers and foam elements could be prepared and wound into roll form, with the sealing or other attachment of the film and foam to produce individual envelopes being performed thereafter as the sandwich is unwound for use as protective bags. These and other variations and modifications are deemed to be within the scope and substance of the present invention.